


silly and surprised

by LadyPrince



Category: Starfighter (Comic)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 07:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17617817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyPrince/pseuds/LadyPrince
Summary: Abel actually makes some progress in talking to Deimos, which makes him feel way happier than he should, probably, maybe. Well, whatever - he is happy about it, and that is all that matters, right?





	silly and surprised

**Author's Note:**

> I just randomly had this idea just as I arrived an hour early to work, which is why this is so hap-hazardous. Sorry about that. I'm very tired, so pardon any errors in grammar or spelling too. I'll fix it up over if I reread this and notice any mistakes.
> 
>  **Edit:** Fixed it so that it is clearer when Abel and Deimos are speaking in sign language and not oral/spoken language.

“I think Deimos is in love with me.” is the first sentence Abel tells Ethos when he sees him, not even pausing to acknowledge Praxis as he rolls into their bunk and absolutely assaults their ears with his words. Well, he calls it an assault on their ear given that he is talking so fast that Ethos stares at him like he is an idiot and Praxis, again, looks absolutely heartbroken. “And I think Cain is going to kill Deimos in his sleep.”

Ethos blinks. Looks at Praxis, looks at Abel, looks down at his hands, then looks up at the ceiling of his bunk as though praying to some higher being. “Okay, Abel, sit down - first,” Ethos’s leg kicks out, shoving Praxis easily off of the lower bed, and the fighter looks confused at the very powerful shove as he lands on the ground with a dull thud, “okay, now sit down here, next to me.” he pats gently at the new empty space next to him and Abel gingerly sits down, looks at Praxis apologetically, then twiddles his thumbs together.

“I want you to tell me, slowly, what happened to lead you to that conclusion.” Ethos says, sounding like his extremely kind but also infinitely exasperated mother, and Abel shrinks a little.

“Well…”

 

The story is a bit awkward to begin with.

Very awkward, because he has to admit to the fact that he has been cornered by the rather short Deimos in the middle of the hallway after Cain has been dragged away by some other fighters for some friendly sparring or whatever it is that fighters do. His fist is slammed next to Abel’s head, arm angled upwards, and his face ever expressionless and his eyes burning holes into his head, and Deimos looks him up and down, as if searching for something.

“Hey,” Abel finally manages out, giving Deimos an extremely tiny wave, and he is given an extremely blank look which doesn’t tell him anything, “so, how are you?” he tries not to bring up the kiss in the mess deck and the subsequent days of silence that has followed, wondering almost if Cain has beat him half to death only for Phobos to tell him, snidely, that that is not the case.

He is given no answer. Understandable, he is aware of who he is dealing with after all. It is still frustrating over the fact that he really would prefer some sort of answer over that incident on that day - Cain has just finished fuming over it though he is still a tense bomb, and Abel has been doing his best not to agitate his fighter further.

“I hope you’ve been doing okay.” Abel says tersely, and Deimos nods minutely. So minutely that he almost misses it. “So, I have to - um, go, now, because I have to get to work in twenty min-” Deimos’s right fist slams into the wall to his, well, right, and Abel squawks indignantly in surprise. “Haha, okay, nevermind! I have time, I mean, it’s only a two minute walk to there, right? I mean, well. I don’t have to start work that early!”

Deimos nods more noticeably that time, as though approving of what Abel has said. Is this… his way of telling Abel he cares? Is that why he is boxing him against the wall right now? “Do you want me to just… talk? And you can nod or shake your head in response to the stuff I say?”

A nod.

Okay, he is getting somewhere now! “Are you… trying to keep me from work because you think I’m overworking myself?” he manages out, and Deimos tilts his head, his eyes widening out a bit more so that he shows his amusement, then he nods slowly. “... Thank you?” Abel asks more than says, and there is a brief show of teeth on Deimos’s face - he is laughing without even laughing!

This is way too embarrassing. He tenses up as he hears footsteps and Deimos is quick to let his arms drop and shove his hands into his pockets instead as he leans against the wall next to Abel. Two fighters pass by - Zagreus and Modus - and stare at Deimos curiously, then look over at Abel before realization strikes. They snicker among themselves, leave the two alone, and Deimos shakes his head.

His lip pulls back so the upper row of teeth are revealed, showing that he isn’t as bothered by this as Abel is, and he wonders what in the name of hell is going on here. “Were they giggling because of the kissing incident from last week?” Abel asks bluntly, and his ears suddenly burn bright with embarrassment as he realizes how tactlessly he has just asked that.

Deimos snickers. Actually _snickers_ at Abel. He stares at the shorter, silent man in awe, even more so when he nods at Abel and his snicker turns into an actual chuckle. “I feel like I should be embarrassed right now.” Deimos shrugs, his laughter dying down. “Do you really plan on just not talking to me?” he nods.

“... Do you know sign language?” Deimos raises his hands up then, makes a few signals that he shamefully doesn’t recognize, and Abel stares at him helplessly. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

He gets a nod, and a genuine, sweet smile on Deimos’s face. It looks good on him. “If… I learned sign language… would you have conversations with me?” Deimos pauses for a moment, then nods at him. “Hmm… I’d have to see if Keeler is willing to send me that PDF on Russian sign, I think he has one in his tablet just in case-”

“Ethos knows ASL.” Deimos says suddenly, his voice husky and soft, and Abel gapes at him in surprise. He gently reaches up, strokes Abel’s jaw, and then closes his mouth for him with an audible click. He looks up at the digital clock in the hallway, nods, then leans towards him to give Abel a kiss on his neck.

His breath tickles him, makes Abel gasp - both from the ticklish sensation, and from how nice Deimos’s lips feel - and then he backs away and leaves him be. When Abel looks at the digital clock, he notices that he has five minutes to get to work, and he rushes off with a start.

 

“You think he’s… in love with you because he wants you to learn sign language so you’ll have a conversation for once? So you’re interpreting that as he wants to confess his love to you, in sign?” Ethos says, and it does sound incredulous when someone else says it, so it makes Abel feel a bit better to know that he is kind of being ridicu- “I think you’re right.”

What.

“You do?” Abel says, alarmed, and Ethos shrugs.

He links his fingers together and stretches his arms upward, looking extremely relaxed while Abel feels anything but. It isn’t like you can blame him, either! He isn’t used to people showing interest in him like that! At all! “Praxis, have you ever seen Deimos sign at anyone before?” Ethos says

“No.” Praxis says, refreshingly honest. “I don’t think I've ever seen him use his hands to talk, and I don't think I even know what his voice sounds like.”

“It sounds good.” Abel uselessly supplies. Praxis and Ethos both ignore it.

Praxis rolls his shoulders, then leans forward, looking commanding without even trying. “I think I…” he grits his teeth, almost as if the words are painful to say. “ _.. agree_ with Ethos. That may be the reason why he wants you to learn.”

 _Why him? He doesn’t know how to deal with emotions, emotions are hard. Please give him work to do that isn’t trying to figure out romance, please._ His rampant thoughts end up being interrupted by Ethos, much to his overworking brain’s relief. “So… he wants you to learn sign language from me?” Ethos asks, “how did he even know I knew sign language? That’s… kind of creepy.” he says with a shudder.

Praxis, who looks like he wants to have any conversation but this one, just snorts with amusement and rests his elbows on his knees. “Deimos kinda knows at least one thing about everyone here. No clue why, though.” Praxis admits, and Abel thinks that that is mildly disturbing to think about. What if Deimos is some sort of alien spy? They’d never hear the end of this from the base on Earth. “Think it’s ‘cause he keeps slinkin’ ‘round like a snake.”

Abel bristles, “well, he’s a rather gorgeous viper if you ask me!” he fires off hotly and Ethos elbows him in the gut, making him choke on air. “Ow - okay, I deserved that probably.” Praxis just smiles at him sheepishly and Ethos rolls his eyes. He crosses his arms in front of him then leans back, looking contemplative while Abel sits there and fidgets.

His thumbs press together and then he steeples his fingers, waiting for whatever it is that Ethos is thinking about to come to an end so that he can continue his very tiny freakout because it has just hit him that he has just defended Deimos from being insulted. Oh god. That man has actually wormed his way into his heart and… it isn’t that bad, really.

“He specifically wants you to learn ASL? Not Russian?” Abel looks down awkwardly, but he does nod, and Ethos hums happily next to him. “Good, I only know ASL, anyway,” _then why’d you ask!?_ “Which is probably why he agreed on speaking ASL with you.”

That does make a creepy amount of sense. How does Deimos know these things, anyway? “ Alright then, I’ll teach you. It shouldn’t be that hard anyway - I didn’t even know he knew ASL...” he kicks at Praxis in the shoulder when he finishes speaking and the fighter grunts, having dozed off midway through. “Do you know American sign language?” Ethos asks.

Praxis purses his lips and shakes his head. Ethos claps his hands together at that. “Great! I have two students now.”

“What-”

**_“Two students.”_ **

“Okay.”

 

It takes him two days to actually learn ASL; Ethos tells him, with maybe some jealousy but a lot of pride, that Abel is the fastest learner he has ever met and that he should now be ready to have a conversation in sign language with Deimos. Which is why Abel has been kicked out of Ethos’s bunk, with Praxis waving goodbye at him while giving him an affectionate smile, and is told very authoritatively to, “go find Deimos and talk to him like a human being for once.”

He wanders around aimlessly in the hallways, not having any work or anything to do, and Cain seems to be busy for once so he isn’t busying himself with his fighter’s company today either. He doesn’t even know if he should go to where the fighters normally do their training, is he even allowed? Are they just allowed to go wherever? Why doesn’t anyone tell anyone anything about the rules here!?

It is in his mindless wandering that he almost slams into someone, being stopped only by the fact that a strong hand stops him squarely in his spot, and Abel looks up to - “Ah! Deimos! I’ve been looking for you!” he cries out, causing the other navigators with their fighters to look at him awkwardly, and Deimos tilts his head.

Trying to ignore his excitement over being able to talk to Deimos, Abel signs at him, almost says _I go now_ instead of _I learnt ASL_ and he watches, with a nervous smile, as the other man blinks slowly at him… then smiles widely, his own hands coming up, and he signs back at Abel. Yes! _Conversation!_ **_Progress!_ **

Taken up by his own excitement, Abel continues signing, all while Deimos smiles sweetly at him. _“You’ll actually talk to me now, right? Right?”_

_ “Yes, I promised.” _

_“Thank you!”_ Abel signs, a big grin on his face. _“Is it okay if I ask you some questions to know you better?”_

_ “Yes.” _

His cheeks are almost beginning to hurt from how hard he is smiling, yet it is very easy to ignore how ridiculous he must look in comparison to Deimos’s rather calm exterior. “ _Is there a reason why you don’t use your voice to talk?”_ is his first question, fired off without him even stopping to think, and Abel can feel the happy high very quickly crash down into anxiety when he realizes the insensitivity of the question. _“You don’t have to-”_

Deimos flicks his palm, stopping him mid-sentence, and answers, _“personal preference. Don’t feel bad. Keep asking.”_

He spins his left thumb in circles around his right before he continues asking, _“do you like me? I always thought you hated me. You kept glaring at me.”_

_ “Misplaced feelings. Realized how I actually felt later.” _

_ “Will you tell me what you actually feel then?” _

Deimos huffs in laughter, a smirk on his face instead of a smile, and Abel feels his face grow warm from the embarrassment only to absolutely burn up when the fighter leans in close. _“Is this your way of asking me to kiss you?”_ is what Deimos signs when he backs off after giving Abel’s collar a chaste kiss, leaving him to verbally stutter, and he huffs in amusement once more.

“S-so you… you are in love with me?” Abel squeaks out with his voice, forgetting his hands, yet Deimos still deems it worth answering as he curls his hand into a fist and moves his arm back and forth for a little bit, then pats Abel’s shoulder when he flushes hotly before he pushes himself away.

It is as he is walking past Abel, probably about to turn a corner, that Deimos says, _“Cain,_ ” loud enough for him to hear. He freezes up, turns around, and is made witness to a bemused looking Cain in his combat suit, his fighter blinking owlishly up at Abel, and he tries not to look too suspicious when he walks towards him.

“The fuck you red over? You gettin’ sick or something, princess?” Cain drawls out as he stands in front of him, head tilting to the side, and Abel chokes on his own saliva and doubles over. Cain ends up having to make sure he doesn’t actually choke and keel over, which is very embarrassing and humiliating and he will probably always hold that over Abel’s head, but at the very least it is better than him accidentally giving away what has happened.

He can’t tell Cain what happened, but he can tell Ethos at the very least that yes, Abel is most definitely correct, and he is most definitely flustered.

Deimos… likes him, and that is the bewildering truth that makes his heart flutter.

**Author's Note:**

> [ Pillowfort. ](https://www.pillowfort.social/transistor) | [ Tumblr. ](https://transistories.tumblr.com/) | [Twitter.](https://twitter.com/EmptyHeartLover)


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